Getting Schooled

[Mila Glade]

Mila watched the scene unfold before her with a mixture of curiosity, nervousness and worry. What was happening to him? She had no idea, but from the silver on his neck and face, she assumed it was something magical. She followed along, a few steps behind, feeling completely powerless.

She stood still, holding the food in her hands. "What is happening to him? Does he need a healer?" She asked. "Want me to go to the White Hart? Don't they heal people?" She needed to do something, but had no idea what.

[Ksenia]

Ksenia scrambled up from where Artemis had knocked her to the ground. She had to keep him in sight. Mila asked her what to do, if she should go somewhere. “He’s - he’s stuck in a bad memory. I’ll try to get him to calm down.” Ksenia followed Artemis, swallowing hard. There had to be something Mila could do.

“Go to the Goose. Ask for Robert and say something’s wrong with Artemis,”she said. Maybe he’ll know what to do, if it was something to do with whatever it was he did the last time Artemis had been - off. But what if he wouldn’t come with her? “After Robert, go to the Hart. Get Dáire and bring him back here,”she told Mila. At least Dáire could pick him up bodily if nothing else worked, she thought.

Ksenia felt a wave of cold anxiety wash over her and settle in her chest. This is your fault. She shook her head violently and ran after Artemis. Please let this work, she prayed, to any idol that would listen. “Artemis!” she called. “Artemis Black, you are not being a good boy!” She took a few steps toward him. “Why did you leave me behind?”

Thankfully, he stopped moving. Ksenia called again, softer. “Artemis?” She put her hand at the top of his shoulder and slid it down to his hand as she came around to face him. “Look at me.” His eyes were still unfocused; she reached out and gently lifted his chin. “Hey. Artemis.” Ksenia squeezed his hands. “Come on, Artemis. Look at me.”

[Artemis Black]

Artemis could only think of getting home. ‘Mother would be there, have to get home, where it’s safe. Don’t stop running until you’re safe she always said,’ his thoughts rolled around without rhyme or reason. Flitting from one overwhelming emotion the next. He felt like he was watching a building burn to the ground. He was both inside, trapped under a flaming beam, and looking on helplessly from the outside.

“Artemis Black, you are not being a good boy!” He jerked to a halt, the words crashing over him like a raging storm. ‘Your dead, why can I hear you, we’re not safe!’ his thoughts shouted at him that this was impossible. He could feel his grip slipping again, silver fingers pulling him back into the raging inferno of his collapsing thoughts.

‘Does this get you what you want?’ came at him coldly, dousing the flame and turning the building to ash. He didn’t know, he wasn’t certain what he wanted.

He couldn’t hear past the ringing in his ears. It was so loud it echoed in his skull. There was light beneath his eyes, blindingly bright. ‘Don’t Die’ he heard like thunder. He shouted, raging at his weakness and lashing out to crush it in his hands. Then he was there again, his vision snapping into focus.

He held Ksenia by the throat, his fingers firmly clamped around her cool skin. He wasn’t squeezing, she could breathe, but he couldn’t make his fingers release.

Then a shout came from his side and a fist hit him in the gut. “Get off her you bastard!” the man shouted, his face red in rage. Artemis didn’t know him, but he also couldn’t breath as his stomach attempted to leave his body through his mouth.

[Mila Glade]

Mila nodded to Ksenia, casting a quick glance back at Artemis before setting off at a run.

After she had traversed a few rooftops, shoved any folk that were in her way out of it, she arrived at the Goose. She had no idea who this Robert was, so she literally grabbed the first waiter she saw. "Get a message to someone called 'Robert' now!" She ordered. She told the poor waiter where Artemis was, hoping her direction would prove to be accurate, then shoved him off and left.

Even with her elven blood, Mila was panting for breath when she reached the White Hart. She did exactly the same when she arrived at the Hart, passing along the message for Dáire to come as fast as he could. She didn't wait around but sprinted back. If Dáire could catch up with her, then he would.

What by Kaxitaki was happening?!

[Ksenia]

“By the idols,” Ksenia whispered. Artemis retched on the ground. At the moment, at least he wasn’t running off. She pulled herself off the ground and looked around for her would-be rescuer. The man stood off to the side, red-faced and clearly ready to attack again.

“Miss, are you-”

“By Nilbein’s shade, what do you think you were doing!” Ksenia advanced on him like a cat stalking a mouse. A very large mouse. “I was fine! I had things under control until you barged in like a power-drunk Bhelest and hit him!” Her face was flushed by now; she could feel the warmth coming to her cheeks

“But-”

Channeling every bit of her mother’s hauteur, Ksenia glared at him and said, “Get out of my sight.” At his hesitation, Ksenia narrowed her eyes further. “Go!”

Once the do-gooder had started to move on - with a last statement of "bitch!" - she turned and ran back to Artemis. “I’m so sorry, Artemis.” She put a hand on his shoulder, a bit awkwardly. “Are you here? Can you look at me?” This is your fault. He coughed, heavily, and she squeezed his shoulder. “It’s Ks- Kessy. Artemis?”

[Dáire]

A disgruntled waiter approached Dáire as he looked over papers pertaining to yet another contract he was to forge ahead with. This had become uncomfortably regular now, but at least he wasn't idle.
“Some Peredhal just asked for you, an Artemis is in trouble in the market or some manner or another.” Shrugging his shoulders, he moved off in the same unhurried gait as he’d approached in. Artemis was calling on him? Well that was highly irregular he thought. Rising swiftly to his feet, he slid out of the hart onto the streets, taking to the roofs, making short work of them as he headed in the direction of the market.

Landing noiselessly at one end of the market, he spotted Ksenia not far ahead. She heading off a bruiser of a human, stern words being exchanged before she coruched over a chair behind her. Realisation dawned as he took a few steps closer, instinct instantly urged him to hurry.

“What? Why was I called!” Face paling he put a hand on the man’s shoulder and closed his eyes. It all felt just wrong, the vibration and hum was off but he had no idea the cause. No idea as to how or who could fix it either. The silver creeping across his skin like vines made his stomach drop in horror.

“Artemis, Ny’thra save you, if I have to carry you like a damsel, I will never let you live it down.” he huffed out, the faint tendrils of panic intertwining with his words.

[Artemis Black]

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Artemis felt a hitch in his breath as he tried to get his roiling gut under control. Dáire was there, large and strong and terribly safe. “Why are you-” he managed before groaning. The light hadn’t gone away, his face still blazed with brilliant lines of pulsing silver. His eyes quivered, flashing in and out of focus as he was tugged in a thousand directions. “The voices still call, the choir beckons,” he said through gritted teeth. There was a flash of clarity, for the briefest moment he was completely himself, aware and terrified. “Hold me, as hard as you can, Kat will understand,” he managed in a hiss before he lost control again and the silver lines flared.

Blackness receded and Artemis found himself standing on a narrow path of cracked black stone inlaid with gold. He looked at himself, seeing faint smoke tendrils drifting off his body and swirling down to meld into the gold below. He frowned and looked ahead to see only brilliant silver. As he looked a faint singing began, discordant but soothing. It was the chorus, the voices of release calling him to release his mortal form.

He shook his head and turned, looking behind him. There he saw a maw of swirling greys and blacks. As he looked, single ball of silver light emerged from his chest and began to drift into the greys. They changed, becoming all the colors he could imagine and more. As the ball travelled it left behind a tenuous thread to his body.

Artemis examined the thread, it was thin but strong, made of many tiny fibers twisted and wrapped. Yet there was weakness, ragged fraying where the lines met his chest. Looking on he saw the frayed strands begin to drift away, being tugged by invisible hands to the silver behind him. In that moment he regained many memories. His death, his restoration, his collapse, Robert binding him.

He understood that this was his soul, being slowly taken from him by the chorus. He wasn’t supposed to be alive. Robert had forced him back from his destiny, but hadn’t had the power to prevent the damage that was already done. He needed to find out how to fix this, or he would be sapped of strength, marked for death.

Artemis took his hand and with faint smoking fingers grasped the thread past the frayed portion. He tried to tug, yanking at his soul tether with all his will. His fingers slipped, dispersing as they touched the silver light. He frowned furiously at the thread, concentrating and grasping again. Nothing he could do would make his insubstantial fingers stay. He felt his control slipping, the rest of his body was starting to disperse. His time was running out.

Then there were voices, distant but solid. They were moving around him, taking shape in golden limbs.
“Don’t you dare leave me too. You’re the only one who’s even tried to stay“
“...should you find yourself stuck, I have been where you are and I will help if you ask it of me.”
"He's gonna teach me things. I'm gonna make a life for myself."
“This is what we will have, and it will be forever, and glorious.”
"A gift for one of my sons, who has finally found a reason to leave my house."
“You are not alone, you do not walk the path, you carve it.”

His body was wrapped in the golden light, it spilled from his chest and arced out to the path below. The cracked stone rumbled each time the light pulsed. Artemis felt strength fill him and reached for the thread again. This time his hands were solid, cloaked in brilliance, and he held the silver firmly. With a furious tug he pulled the thread back into his body, burying the frayed ends into his chest. Then his awareness exploded into light.

Artemis gasped as breath filled his aching lungs. His eyes burned with the light above him and he tried to scrub at them, but realized he was being trapped. He groaned softly and tried to wriggle free. "I'm not going to die here, Kaxitaki take you!" he shouted with what remained of his strength

[Ksenia]

Dáire had showed up in the nick of time; the strange silvery markings on Artemis’s face had only pulsed stronger as he’d sputtered. The tall elf had scooped up Artemis just before he said the only thing that had actually sounded like himself: “Hold me, as hard as you can, Kat will understand.”

Dáire had held Artemis in his arms, cradling him, and Ksenia threw her arms around his shoulders squeezing as though she could force his broken pieces back together. The silver lines intensified and though Artemis was unresponsive, Ksenia had to hope that he was fighting to come back, to stay with her and Dáire and Mila and Katarya. Her head was almost on his shoulder, and she said quietly, “Don’t you dare leave me too. You’re the only one who’s even tried to stay.” She gripped his shoulders harder, trying to squeeze the life into him.

Without Artemis, her life would go back to scraping for work, sleeping where ever someone would allow her, and never having any stability. Having a place where she could store her tools and sleep had given her a chance to focus on her skills; having the opportunity to be introduced to Artemis’s network had given her the glimpse of a future she so desperately wanted. She’d been such a bitch to him, more than once, and yet, he’d never run, never yelled, never tried to hurt her. He’d given her a chance, invited her in to the warehouse he wanted to transform, and praised her (excessively, she thought. She was just a seamstress, not a miracle worker) on multiple occasions.

Ksenia felt Artemis’s chest move and his arms twitch. Oh idols, please don’t let that be a last gasp. He struggled in Ksenia and Dáire’s hold, shouting in Ksenia’s ear. She fell backward, at least relieved that he had the strength to shout. Surely that was a good sign. Her ear hurt, and she rubbed it absentmindedly while she scanned the road for Mila and Robert.

Poor Mila, she thought. Trying to learn from Artemis, I interrupt their lessons and their lunch, and then rendered him incapacitated. Not to mention I’m the only other half-elf she knows, and I know nothing of that world at all. I must have disappointed her so much.

Thinking of the elves - and a particular non-elf who’d won their acceptance, Ksenia sighed. Katarya was probably going to turn her into a frog or something disgusting. She deserved it. Once Artemis was in better - safer - hands, she was returning to the Goose and locking herself in her room so she couldn’t do any more damage today.

[Mila Glade]

Mila watched the scene before her with wide eyes. She had done her bit, but now she felt utterly useless.

As Ksenia held the man who was teaching her, Mila's hand rested on her knife; it was all she knew how to do: solve problems with violence, but here, there was no call for it.

She knelt down beside Artemis and Ksenia, looking as awkward as she felt. "Is there any more I can do?" She asked the other peredhel. "Anything at all."

[Dáire]

Dáire watched in a mix of morbid fascination and horror, he cradled a thrashing Artemis in his arms, Ksenia joining the group hug as the silver creeping across the mans skin flared brighter, and he shouted out. He flicked an astonished glance to Ksenia,
One of you will have to explain what in Ixaziel’s name is going on with him” He growled out, struggling to keep the hysterical edge he could feel rising within him, from entering his words. He could feel the wrongness creeping across his own skin, not the pleasant, warm feeling of feathers across it but similar icy water trickling down your spine. He knew there was a vast array of magic within their world, much of which he would never see in action, but after seeing whatever had been done to Artemis cause the man to writhe as he had, he was glad that he could remain ignorant to the many dark sides it harboured.

Artemis took a large breathe and the tension in his body seemed to seep out of him. The thrashing subsided finally. Relieved, Dáire relaxed the vice grip he’d had on the mans limbs, a groan escaping Artemis as he wriggled out of the hold entirely, and then he shouted loudly enough to make Dáire’s ears ring. Groaning himself he made to step back, giving him space while rubbing as his ears.

He was concerned, for the young man before him - and for Kat, this was not normal, it felt wrong and set all his senses on edge. Thankfully, whatever had gone on seemed to be subdued for now, the itchy feeling that had coated his skin while holding Artemis had dissipated.